Reese gets school yardage record in YC win
Yuma Catholic put up an offensive showcase Friday at the American Leadership Academy Queen Creek.
Junior quarterback Gage Reese threw for a school- record 609 yards and seven touchdowns to help the Shamrocks overcome an early deficit to win 49-27.
Reese was also 26-for-43 and he had an interception.
YC was able to get revenge for last season’s 3A
YC: 3-1 overall ALA: 3-2 overall
quarterfinal loss to the Patriots by overwhelming their opponents at the skill positions. In 2017 ALA won the game 28-21 after YC jumped out to a 14-0 lead.
ALA went on to lose in the state semifinals to Casteel.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” YC coach Rhett Stallworth said. “Football is about matchups and things happen. At the end of the day we started to get back on track and play like we’re capable of.”
Friday’s game would have that switched with the Shamrocks falling behind 14-0 only to come back for the big win.
“We had a little hangover from last week,” Stallworth said. “It took us a while to get going. We turned the ball over early.”
The turnover was enough to wake up the Shamrocks, who began to exploit some mismatches on the edge.
Reese began to get the ball to senior receiver J.R. Henderson and junior running back Ean Chavez.
Those two made a series of big plays to help their team score 35 unanswered points.
Henderson finished with 10 catches for 226 yards and three touchdowns and Chavez had six catches for 217 yards and two touchdowns. Chavez also had 15 carries for 54 yards.
“They were blitzing hard so we kept him (Reese) busy with the screens,” Stallworth said. “When they laid off of him, then we went deep on them. We varied the game and we stayed balanced with run/pass, deep and short. It went over well.”
Yuma Catholic will be back Friday at home against River Valley.